A Matter of Perspective
by onewritergirl93
Summary: Changed the title from "Bittersweet Reunion". A different (and very late) take on their reunion (feat. Hannah). My first attempt at writing these characters. Let me know what you think! COMPLETE.
1. Bones

Temperance Brennan shifted uncomfortably.

She was early.

Really early.

In fact, she'd been sitting, waiting and pacing for the majority of the day. The reason for her discomfort now was both the cool stone of the bench she was sitting on, and the fact that she was here to meet _him_ today. The pounding of her heart was technically an increase in epinephrine released from the sympathetic branch of her nervous system, a normal response to stress. Booth would say she was excited...and maybe a little nervous.

She tapped her heels against the pavement impatiently. Reaching into her purse for the hundredth time, she grabbed her compact mirror and inspected her makeup. Yep, still flawless. Temperance gave a small smile as she thought of what Angela would say if she could see her right now. Not much could rile the confident woman, but everyone, even Temperance Brennan, had their weaknesses. Hers just happened to be a certain warmhearted FBI agent. She glanced at her gold watch and sighed. _Where was he?_ She couldn't wait much longer. She needed to tell him that she - a rough voice broke into her thoughts.

"Ma'am, this is private property. I'm going to have escort you - "

She whipped around to find Special Agent Seeley Booth smiling back at her. He was dressed in his version of "regulation FBI uniform", complete with a blue and red zigzag tie. Temperance could only imagine what crazy pattern he had on his socks. She gave a very uncharacteristic squeal and flew into his arms. He hugged her back, burying his face in her hair. With her face burrowed into his neck, she could smell his cologne; a mix of something spicy and masculine, and she breathed it in. After a long while, she leaned back in his arms.

"You were teasing me, weren't you? It's funny because you said this was private property when it's obviously not." She grinned up at him.

He grinned right back and answered softly, "Yeah, Bones."

They stared at each other then, for three seconds that felt like years. They once again memorized the details that had begun to grow a bit hazy - though neither had admitted the fact until that moment. They hadn't made it a full year, and it was still too long. Temperance felt the now familiar warmth in her mediastinum - that is, her chest - that she had come to associate with this man in front of her. She needed to tell him, and she needed to do it now.

"Booth -"

"Bones -"

They laughed.

"You go first." Temperance said before he could. Her confession could wait; she wanted to hear what he had to say. And she was still pretty nervous. Maybe getting back into the natural swing of conversation would help calm her nerves.

Booth removed his arms from her back and slid his hands down until he was holding her elbows. He took a deep breath. Grinning again, he took a step back with a flourish of his arm, revealing a pretty blond behind him that Temperance had not noticed before. The warmth in her mediastinum turned into a cold rock and tumbled into her abdominal cavity.

"This...is Hannah." The enthusiasm in Booth's voice confirmed her fears. This woman was significant to her partner. It was an uncomfortable feeling, being aware of this fact and to being unhappy about it. She found that she would rather be oblivious, as she had been in the past. Booth, with his hand still on one elbow, turned back to Temperance.

"Hannah, this is partner, Bones." His smile was smaller, his voice almost imperceptibly softer. It wasn't full of excited pride as it had been when he introduced this Hannah woman. Temperance didn't like that, but she was unaware that, from Hannah's perspective, the vivacity had been replaced with a profound fondness.

Stepping forward, she extended her hand. "Temperance Brennan," she was tempted to add "Dr", but Booth had explained that it wasn't necessary when meeting friends of friends, as it was too formal and often intimidating. She wasn't sure of this woman, but she didn't want to appear uppity and embarrass Booth.

"It's so great to meet you, Temperance! Seeley has told me so much about you." As Hannah stepped up to take her hand, Temperance assessed her.

Closer now, she realized that Hannah wasn't just "pretty". She was stunning. Her face was almost perfectly symmetrical and her zygomatic arches were to die for - although, that was a phrase Temperance had never fully understood. The feeling in her gut (Booth's term) worsened. Anthropologically speaking, attractive people often sought companionship with an equally attractive partner. It just so happened that Seeley Booth also had phenomenal zygomatic arches and pleasingly symmetrical features. _This was not good. _

Apparently, the silence stretched a few seconds too long, and Booth cleared his throat.

"Hannah is, um, a journalist."

"Oh." Temperance Brennan was almost never at a loss for words, but her vocabulary seemed to be severely restricted at the moment. Her eyes darted from Booth to Hannah and back._ Why did she feel so confused? _

"Are you, um..." Her voice trailed off. The Hannah woman probably thought her to be quite socially inept, or worse, of average intelligence, with the way that she couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence.

Booth seemed to sense her discomfort, and like always, he understood what she meant, "Together? We're, um, yeah."

"Oh."_ Again?_ She mentally reviewed every point of social etiquette that she had learned from Booth. _Oh yes!_ She should appear interested in Hannah's work or her relationship with Booth. Her stomach hurt._ Okay, definitely the first topic. _

"What kind of journalism?" It wasn't much, but at least it wasn't "Oh".

The sudden switch between subjects threw Hannah for a moment. "I...well, I was sent to the same area of Afghanistan that Booth was stationed in," she looked at Booth and they shared a knowing smile and a small laugh, "and he..."

Funny, Temperance didn't remember asking how they met. The cold stone in her abdominal cavity turned into a knife, twisting painfully. A sense of panic started to creep in and she wanted it to go away. No longer caring about being polite, she interrupted Hannah's story - something about being somewhere she shouldn't have and a fig tree -

"I'm sorry, but I really must get back to the lab," It was only when she saw the disappointment in Booth's eyes that she added, "Perhaps we can finish this conversation another time?"

Taken aback, Hannah simply nodded and Temperance hurried off, leaving Booth wondering what had happened to spook his partner.

All Temperance knew was that she needed to get away. It wasn't rational, the way she was acting, but something had just come over her._ It wasn't supposed to be like this, was it?_ She should have stuck to her previous conviction that she was better off alone. _It hurt far less, didn't it?_ She had been stupid to entertain ideas of her and...Booth grabbed her arm and turned her.

"Bones, are you alright?" The concern that marked his face made Temperance feel worse. She shrugged away from his touch and mustered a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Of course. I just need to get to the lab. I'll, um, see you there," she thought her voice might crack, but she added softly, "Welcome home, Booth."

With that, she turned on her heel. She thought she heard him say something, but she didn't turn around.

As she distanced herself physically, she struggled to distance herself emotionally. She wasn't accustomed to this feeling, she never had such a strong response. Her tear ducts, she noticed, were working overtime.

_Welcome home. _


	2. Booth

Seeley Booth honked his horn.

He was late.

Not too late, but definitely running behind.

If it wasn't for this horrendous DC traffic, he would be there already. "_One year from today -"_That's what they had said. Well, it had been seven months too long and Seeley didn't want to wait another minute. Even as the cars began to move at a reasonable pace, he was on edge, his knee bouncing up and down and his back never touching the leather seat. The blond in the passenger seat laughed.

"Seeley, calm down. She'll still be there."

"You don't know Bones." He laughed to himself then, imagining his partner growing impatient and heading to the lab without him. It wouldn't even occur to her that he would be disappointed. By her reasoning, they would just see each other later. But for Booth, this meeting_ "- by the coffee cart"_was important. He would never admit it to Hannah, but he was kind of nervous. With everything that had happened between him and Bones, everything that had been said, and things he had a feeling were left unsaid, he wasn't sure what to expect.

There was the potential awkwardness of not having talked in several months, the wondering if things were truly different. Seeley knew they were, but if he knew Bones, she would expect to fall back into step instantaneously. In her mind, it was the same work they had always done, so it would be the same as it always was.

Those details could be ironed out fairly quickly, he thought, but then there was the issue of Hannah. He was afraid that he has somehow left Bones with the impression that he would wait for her to come around in her feelings for him. Even though he said he had to move on, his actions hadn't exactly backed him up. He _wanted_ to wait, because he truly did love her, but he knew he _couldn't._ He hoped that _his _confusion hadn't confused Bones. At the airport, he thought he might have seen something in her eyes...anyway, he had Hannah now and she was great. His feelings for her weren't as strong as they had been for Bones, but that would take time. She was fun and spontaneous and beautiful.

Finally, they reached their destination. Seeley was out of the car in the same second that it stopped. Hannah laughed, but gave him a strange look. He gave an embarrassed chuckle and turned back to take the keys out of the ignition. He really needed to tone down his excitement, for Hannah's sake. He sighed quietly. It wasn't easy tiptoeing around the feelings of_ two_ women you cared about._ This was going to be interesting. _

When he saw her, all his worries vanished. There she was, his Bones - er, his partner, Bones. She looked just as he remembered, as he had imagined many times over the past months. Less often in the month and a half since he met Hannah, but he couldn't help but still picture her occasionally. Habit or necessity, he didn't want to wonder about. She was pacing back and forth, a look of impatience on her face. _Of course._ She pulled something from her purse and looked at it. A mirror, he realized._ That's strange, Bones wouldn't usually..._

Hannah gave him a little shove. "Aren't you gonna go see her? You've been anxious for two days and now you're just going to stand here?," she teased.

He hadn't realized it, but he had been frozen in that one spot for several seconds. He nervously laughed it off _(why was he laughing so much? Geez_) and started over to her. Hannah followed a few yards behind. He wanted this reunion to be private, and he appreciated her distance while still "standing her ground." Not that she had anything to worry about. A doubt flashed through his mind when Bones brushed an auburn curl behind her ear and his heart jumped. Coming closer, he realized that her hair was shorter and she had bangs now. He wasn't sure how he felt about them specifically, but he knew she looked as gorgeous as ever. Her tall, curvy body was evident even through the long, beige coat she wore. When she glanced down at her watch, he saw the perfect opportunity to tease her, something he found too hard to resist.

"Ma'am, this is private property. I'm going to have escort you -" He made his voice lower and gruff and she spun around. The instant elation on her face and the noise that she made -_ was that a squeal_? - thrilled him. When she launched herself into his arms, he held on as much for her benefit as his own. His knees were suddenly the consistency of jello and his head was spinning. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled. Vanilla shampoo, not what he expected. She had always used a tropical scent before. He absently wondered why she had switched.

She leaned back in his arms, but he didn't let go. "You were teasing me, weren't you? It's funny because you said this was private property when it's obviously not."

Ah, how he had missed her and the way she explained his jokes back to him. He liked making her smile.

He grinned back and answered softly, "Yeah Bones."

They stared at each other then, for three seconds that felt like years. They once again memorized the details that had begun to grow a bit hazy - though neither had admitted the fact until that moment. All the imagining in the world couldn't capture Bones. The way her brilliant blue eyes sparkled when she smiled at him, her grin endearingly crooked. Her perfect teeth and her soft lips.._.Hannah!_ He reeled his mind in from the dangerous, dangerous place it was heading_ (all too naturally, he noticed)_and remembered the woman behind him.

"Bones -"

"Booth -"

They laughed as their words stumbled over each other. At her instruction, he continued. Somewhat reluctantly, he slid his arms down until his hands rested on her elbows. He was almost afraid she would run off to who-knows-what-country if he let her go completely. _Hannah._ He took a deep breath. _Okay, so the feelings for Bones obviously hadn't disappeared._ He hadn't expected them to, but he had to fight them. He stepped back and motioned to his _girlfriend._

"This...is Hannah." He cringed inwardly at the overly excited tone in his voice. He hoped it didn't sound forced or fake. He toned it down a little.

"Hannah, this is my partner, Bones." Wow, he missed saying that!

He watched curiously as the two most important women in his life met for the first time. He smiled when Bones introduced herself so simply. He knew it was only with great effort that she omitted her title. He felt uneasy as the women studied each other, almost sizing each other up. Hoping to relieve the awkwardness, he cleared his throat.

"Hannah is, um, a journalist."

He was a bit shocked when his partner said, "Oh." Temperance Brennan didn't just say things like, _"oh"_, no matter how uncomfortable the social situation. She wanted to appear immensely intelligent, eloquent and poised, in control of herself at all times.

"Are you, um..." It was Booth's turn to mentally say "oh", to his partner's half-question. She wanted to know if he and Hannah were an item. _Why did she seem uncomfortable?_ Usually she had no problem asking many questions about his dating life.

"Together? We're, um, yeah."

A flash in her eyes and another, "Oh."

_Oh._ _No, it couldn't be..._Bones recovered quickly with a question about Hannah's career, and he wasn't sure what he had seen or if he had imagined it. He heard Hannah starting to tell the story of their meeting for the first time, and he smiled at the appropriate time, but his focus was on his partner. He hadn't seen her in so long, after all. He watched as her face changed from polite curiosity to -_ pain?_

Suddenly, she excused herself, glanced almost frantically between Hannah and himself and scurried away. _Scurried._ Something was_ terribly_ wrong. He followed close behind her and grabbed her arm to keep her from running further. _This was not how it was supposed to go. It was supposed to be a happy reunion, so what had gotten into Bones?_

"Bones, are you alright?" He wasn't angry, just concerned at the sudden change in his ever rational partner. His concern grew when she shrugged him off. Had he done something wrong?

"Of course. I just need to get to the lab. I'll, um, see you there," she faltered, "Welcome home, Booth."

His concern turned to fear when he noticed the shine of tears in her eyes as she turned on her heel.

What had he done? He would fix it; he had too. Her back was to him now, but he spoke anyway,

"Welcome home, Bones."

His heart broke as he watched her get smaller and smaller, walking with her head down.

That woman still had quite a hold on him.

_Welcome home. _


	3. Hannah

Hannah Burley took a deep breath.

She was uncomfortable.

A little annoyed too, but mostly uncomfortable.

Her boyfriend, Seeley Booth was not moving. He stood on the pavement, staring at _her_ and _not moving._ Hannah fought the urge to roll her eyes. _Her _meant Temperance Brennan, Seeley's "partner". Today was the day of their all important reunion. Seeley had been talking about it for two days, ever since Caroline called him. He had been talking about_ her _for almost two months, and probably more before Hannah had met him. She understood that they had been partners for years and Temperance was important to him. She was even understanding of the fact that he had feelings for her in the past. _But did he really have to look at her like that? Starstruck, like maybe it wasn't all in the past?_ It irked Hannah, but she tried to keep it light.

"Aren't you gonna go see her? You've been anxious for two days and now you're just going to stand here?" She gave him a playful shove.

He laughed -_ nervously? _- and started over to her. Hannah followed several yards behind, just enough to look like she wasn't intruding, but close enough to interfere if Temperance "made a move". According to Seeley, _she_ had rejected his affections before, and was not the type to "make moves", but Hannah wasn't so sure with the way _she_ was primping herself, obviously in anticipation of his arrival.

When they got closer, Seeley stopped again.

"Ma'am, this is private property. I'm going to have escort you -" his voice was deep and teasing. _She_ turned quickly, letting out a girlish squeal _(great)_ and they hugged...and hugged..._and hugged_. Finally, she pulled back.

"You were teasing me, weren't you? It's funny because you said this was private property when it's obviously not." _No duh._ Hannah didn't hear Seeley's response,_ but why were they just staring at each other?_ Seeley seemed to break out of the trance first, then they awkwardly interrupted each other in an attempt to speak first. _Like they were in middle school or something. _

Seeley finally seemed to remember Hannah was waiting, and turned to introduce her. "This...is Hannah."

Hannah tried not to get annoyed at his cheeriness. She would try to be understanding of their friendship and their past and the way that things might be weird for a while. She smiled.

"Hannah, this is my partner, Bones." _Okay, what?_! With the way he said _"partner",_ he might as well have said _"love of my life"_. Then_ she _said_ her_ name, like she was stating it "for the record", cold and standoffish. Hannah would do better, she would impress Seeley by being friendly to "the other woman". She forced a smile.

"It's so great to meet you, Temperance! Seeley has told me so much about you." They stepped up and looked one another over. Hannah felt like a specimen under a microscope under the gaze of this odd woman's big blue eyes _(apparently Seeley liked blue eyes)._ Not to be outdone, Hannah quirked her eyebrow slightly, in a subtle challenge. Seeley cleared his throat.

"Hannah is, um, a journalist." It pleased Hannah that Seeley seemed uncomfortable. She glanced at him, telling him with her eyes that _she would win, _but he was looking at _her. Ugh. _

Temperance stumbled through a few more awkward exchanges with Booth and Hannah watched in curious amusement. _This woman was a genius? She was sadly lacking in the social skills area. "Oh". _Hannah smiled, for real, when Seeley told _her_ that_ they_ were together. It took her by surprise when Temperance directed the next question at her.

"What kind of journalism?" _Wow, how intelligent and interesting_. She was still looking from Hannah to Booth and Hannah decided to set her straight, once and for all. Give her a little "back story". It was a low blow, but the stars in her eyes needed to _go._

"I...well, I was sent to the same area of Afghanistan that Booth was stationed in," she looked at Seeley and he smiled, albeit distractedly. She continued, "and he..."

"I'm sorry, but I really must get back to the lab -", Temperance interrupted, "perhaps we can finish this conversation another time?"

Surprised by the strain in her voice, Hannah simply nodded.

When she saw the almost scared look in her face, she realized she might have been wrong to push so hard. The pain in Temperance's eyes was not as rewarding as Hannah thought it might be. The confusion was evident too, and it hit Hannah like a slap. _She_ was in _love_ with Seeley. She hadn't expected Hannah to be there, she had thought they could just start over.

Well, Hannah _was_ there, and she cared about him too. Maybe even loved him, or would anyway. _Temperance had her chance - _but the conviction just wasn't as strong this time. Neither of them were in the wrong, they were just caught in an impossible situation. Hannah felt kind of crummy as Temperance ran off. It only stung a little when Seeley ran after her.

She watched in painful fascination as he stopped her, trying desperately to figure out what was wrong with his partner. He had her back, he would always be there to "save" her, because that's what partners did. He was a good man. Hannah trusted him to do the right thing, no matter what it cost him.

As she watched him, his stance defeated as Bones walked away, Hannah wondered what the right thing was.

"The one who got away" was getting away again, and her boyfriend still wanted to go after her.

_Welcome home._


End file.
